Angels 6, Rockies 2: Road Rox fall short in All-Star pitching duel

The Road Rockies struck again. In a matchup that featured All-Stars Germán Márquez and Shohei Ohtani, it was the Angels who came up victorious tonight after two stellar performances by the starting pitchers.

Dueling All-Stars

The hype was all over this game with Márquez and Ohtani, and it lived up to it pretty well. Márquez had a rough first inning — four of the first five batters reached, including a leadoff error and a wild pitch single to the opposing pitcher, who would also steal his 14th base. Two runs would come around to score, but only one was earned. Márquez settled in after that, retiring eight straight batters in the next 2 ²⁄₃ innings. The sixth got a little hairy, but the Angels wouldn’t score again until a two-run homer by Jack Mayfield in the seventh inning. David Fletcher subsequently grounded out to second, but that was the end of Márquez’ night. His final line: 6 ¹⁄₃ IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 8 K. He threw 107 pitches, 73 for strikes.

Concurrently, Ohtani kept up his All-Star/potential-MVP form. He kept the Rockies off the board until the fifth inning and that was the only run he allowed in seven innings. He gave up five hits and struck out five. There were zero walks allowed by either starter (Justin Lawrence yielded the only walk of the entire game).

Dueling homers

The Road Rockies scored just two runs again, and both came by way of the solo home run. Dom Nuñez put the Rox on the board with his sixth homer of the season — his second on the road and first since May 1 in Arizona:

After spending most of the game in a 2-1 deficit, the Road Rockies would go down 4-1 on the Mayfield homer in the seventh. However, Brendan Rodgers tried to spark some of his own heroics by once again cutting the Angels’ lead in half with a solo shot to make it 4-2. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough, but it was Rodgers’ third homer and his first since July 1 at home against the Cardinals:

Up Next

The Rockies stay in Anaheim for two more night games. After a righty duel on Monday, Tuesday’s game will feature two southpaws in Austin Gomber and José Suarez. First pitch is scheduled for 7:38 PM MDT.